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34 Comments

Disapointing to have such a nice "premium" quality machine be ruined by a poor quality display once again. I would have expected Asus to pair it with a better screen. Or maybe they want me to just stare at the bamboo paneling instead of the display...Reply

Thanks for the review and continuing to harp about bad displays. I've been holding out for the UL30Jt myself, but based on the trend from the U30 and this laptop, I'm guessing the new UL30 is also garbage...I guess I'll never buy a laptop then.Reply

I'm planning to buy my wife a U35Jc in about a month, I would definitely spend the extra $100 to get a high quality display. I would probably even spend $150 extra if it was also higher resolution, I'm not too thrilled about the 1366x768 resolution.

Vivek: are you guys really doing a U35 review as well, considering how similar they are so similar to the U33?Reply

It is even more disappointing because it is Asus and they did such a nice job with the g73jh-a1/a2 screen. I was hoping they would be putting that effort into all of their higher end laptops in the different screen sizes. Reply

I'd guess Apple probably spends about $50 more on their LCD... $100 tops. RGB LED backlit panels are prohibitively expensive, but for standard LED backlighting at a fixed size of 13.3", you're looking at probably $100 for a base panel and $150 for a quality panel. The problem is, most marketing departments are focused on all of the other stuff: you can loudly proclaim better battery life, a faster processor, USB 3.0, etc. but when was the last time you saw a consumer notebook on sale with a sticker that says, "High contrast, high color LCD with an 800:1 contrast ratio!" The closest I've ever come to seeing that is with RBG LED backlighting... which adds ~$150 to $200.Reply

While that's true, remember back to before Core 2010 released. The MBP13 was as fast as any of the regular Core 2 Duo notebooks and still had the same screen. So while the current MBP is basically Apple getting away with highway robbery (again), it's not like they can only put in a good display because they're fleecing customers. It's always had a good display. Fair point with the 20% more expensive, but see if you can find me a $1200 13" notebook with a decent display. PC makers just figure to save money with the LCDs in all but the highest end notebooks, which is really disappointing.

(The base MacBook is a whole different story - Apple's as guilty as anyone for mediocre quality screens there.)Reply

Why would you say that? When being a PRO only thing you care while using the laptop is visible characters and performance. Why would it be crucial for the display to be high quality? Display is a display. On that kind of computer it's enough for the display to be clear and illuminated. But i agree with the fact that 1366x762 is a lousy resolutionReply

When I work on a computer, and look at the screen, I want to see what's on the screen, not my reflection/the window or whatever is behind me. I want to actually be able to distinguish red from orange, black from gray. I think a screen is extremely important when you want to look at it for more than 10 minutes at a time.Reply

Sadly, more or less everyone is a follower. The low resolution 720p crummy displays seem to be the norm in the computer industry, or at least for the laptops that Anandtech reviews. Maybe that's a problem endemic to ACER and ASUS's though.

I don't know. Maybe some people just don't get it. The display is one of the most important things about any laptop. oh well...Reply

Why would you suggest a unit that has not been reviewed yet as a better option? Looking at the specs on Amazon there is probably at least a $75 component difference and the other $75 is for the Bamboo. That $75 seems like an acceptable amount to have a unit that is certainly unique and looks damn good at least to me. Who knows, the U35 might be a bust. I would probably still go with the U30Jc since I need an optical drive or wait for the 14" version of the Bamboo that has both the optical drive and a core i5. Reply

I would like to see a thorough review comparing laptop screens (only). IMO, most laptop users don't worry about an extra 5% performance on the CPU... (except perhaps a few people who use their laptop as a gaming rig). However, 95% of laptop users would jump at longer battery performance AND A BETTER SCREEN; whether higher contrast, matte, higher resolution, faster response time, wider gamut, more accurate colour calibration.

I would like to see an industry laptop screen roundup here on anandtech. Perhaps that will have a small impact on the industry. And the review pages will become a reference point for many other websites/forums.Reply

Vivek: why would reviewing the U35Jc be a priority when the results are expected to be within a margin of error from the U30Jc and the U33Jc? Wow about reviewing the UL30Jt instead (or in addition)? Or even better, the PL30Jt that is available with a matte display?Reply

Tensile strength of "steel". Mild steel I'll give them that; most tool steels and structural aluminum alloys like the 2000 or 7000 series no fucking way. I'm more worried about the compressive and fatigue strength of a material when it's being used a structural component for a laptop that I've plunked down roughly a grand for.

Seriously, a "green" laptop is one of the dumber ideas I've ever heard of. More than a ton of petroleum is used in this laptop's production and assembly regardless of what its outer shell is made of.

Computers will never be "green"; they require tons of energy and ghastly chemicals to produce their ICs and tons of oil in the form of energy and structural precursors to fabricate their PCBs and other electrical components. Reply

Some other review sites have mentioned the excessive heat emitted from the left vent (laptopmag.com), and because of this, they felt that the U33JC wasn't lap-friendly. Did you find this to be true as well?Reply

This is a great laptop, with very powerful CPU/GPU for a 13.3 inch configuration.There is a acpi_call module to have cold switching of the hybrid graphics configuration in Linux.

After installing Ubuntu 10.10, you will reboot and get a blank screen due to the hybridg graphics card configuration. The easiest to solve the problem is to:- reboot with failsafe mode (failsave x-server)- download the acpi_call module and switch off the graphics card- reconfigure the xserver (it will use the integrated intel card)- rebootReply